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The Joe Rogan experience. Train by day. Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. All right, we're up. What's up, man? Good to see you. You have had a lot of experiences since the last time I saw you. Yeah, a lot of things happen.

That's why, like always about writing, my book and chapter keep adding up, adding up, adding up. And yes, every time you feel like you're just maybe in the beginning or in the middle.

Yeah, I don't think so. You're definitely only in the middle. Yeah, in the middle somewhere. It's not the beginning, but it's a lot of experiences. So tell me about leading up to the Tyson Fury fight.

Oh, the Tyson Fury fight. That was great. You know, I was just there living a dream, you know, get this big moment. Get that fight that I've been waiting for four years.

The fight that everybody said you were never gonna get.

Yes.

Which is crazy. Like, thank God for the Saudis, because they. They are making things happen, which is really incredible. Incredible.

And it's not like, who is this? Who is, who is that? You know, it's like, okay, we want it to happen, then make it happen.

Yeah. Because everybody wanted to see it happen, but it was one of those things where everybody dismissed it. Everybody said, that's not gonna happen. Tyson Fury's the heavyweight champion. Why would he fight a guy who doesn't have any professional boxing matches? That's crazy. That's not gonna happen. And it happened. And then everybody said you didn't stand a chance. And then when you knocked him down the second round, everybody was like, holy shit. And when you're dancing over him, when that was get in the 8th round.So why didn't the rematch materialize?I think it's a timing. I think it's a matter of the timing. Yeah.So you go from that fight to the Anthony Joshua fight.Yes.So tell me about the preparation and leading up to that fight.In fact, the preparation for the Anthony JOA fight. Then I started, you know, I, after having like four months of training camp for the Tyson Fury fight, I had this feeling, you know, and then I get little, I get a little confident. Now I know how it works. Like ten rounds and then was pretty good, you know, the Tyson Fury fight, I think I spar, I sparred like ten rounds for like two weeks. Yeah, like four, four sparring of ten rounds barely. But the ties, the Antonio Joshua fight six weeks before the fight, I was. No, I wasn't ten. No, the Tyson shoot. Yeah. Four weeks before the fight I was already doing like ten rounds. And I was feeling good, you know, even little lighter. But things plays out different. And I think unlike the Tyson Fury fight that nobody expected me to do anything here. They were expecting me to do something so things played out little different. And then we get into five week and then every time that we gonna do something in the five week, uh, weather is media, they're gonna pick me up and then I get there have to wait like 1 hour and half before he arrives.And that was like maybe the third day of the week that Dewey, Dewey Cooper, he said, oh, he started get really mad upset about like, yes, is how they get, they do to get fire tired. But at the time I didn't know what was going on, you know, so I'm like, no, come relax. Do we. It's okay. You know, I didn't know until we get to the five day Friday, receive an email pickup time. I mean, this one thing among others, pick up time, 1030 from the hotel. And then when they say 1030 by 1020 there is a cardinal in your door willing. We go to the supposedly five to fight time mean between midnight to 01:00 a.m. we get to. To the arena 1045. There is a producer coming to the locker room, say, oh, guys, we are running late on the broadcast now. We are. We're gonna go around 145 each. I'm like, okay, 145 is 1045. 3 hours. Okay. You know, so what do you do? Do you eat?Do you sleep? What do you do when, you know you have three more hours?You know, just stay there and then you have like a drug test guy around waiting for you to pee.How far before the fight do you eat?Usually maybe like four, 5 hours. Yeah, like maybe five to 6 hours. And then you get some snacks in between, you know. And then, yeah, it was one around 130 that he was. Anthony Joshua arrived. I saw on train, I'm like, so we supposed to fight at 145? He's arriving at 130. What does that mean? It's going to. So, so they're playing games until we. We fight at one, at 330. We leave at 330. I have been in Saudi for almost two months training to fight between midnight and one.Mmm.That was my bet, my training time by two, three.So they wanted to keep you anxious, drag it on psychologically, put it in your head. You don't know when you're gonna fight.Pretty much, yeah. But even at that time, I didn't know what was happening.Right.It was after, after everything that I'm like, what's going on? Because I get in the, I get to the point that I was so tired, I was in the locker room heating meat. Then sit down feeling asleep. Then I tell Eric, Eric Nixie, like, bro, something wrong? I'm asleep. I feel like I want to sleep. Like I'm sweating. But we just keep, we just keep doing. So that's fight. I mean, not to say Anthony Joshua couldn't win me, you know, I think if there's somebody that you can lose against him, he's the guy, you know, and he's one of the best of doing it, you know, but, and this is definitely not on him because he wasn't. The guy that was sending all those emails was organizing. So I'm not blaming about anything but the organization, bro. Nah, they did quite some stuff that wasn't fair, which on the Tyson fight was perfect. Everything was perfect because I wasn't a threat. I wasn't. Nobody cares about me. Everything was organized. We get there in the locker room, I think was 2 hours before the fight properly. Yeah.Hmm.So.Well, Anthony Joshua is a veteran. You know, he's been in the boxing game for a long time and he knows, knows all the different tricks. They also obviously very much prepared for your style. They saw you fight Tyson Fury, so they had tape on you as Tyson Fury did not have boxing tape. He didn't have any footage to study, but Anthony Joshua did. And it was very clear that he knew you had certain tendencies and there were certain things that you did with the Tyson Fury fight that he exploited in his fight, maybe.And then I think, again, I think he's capable to figure out everybody. I think he's capable to win everybody. But in this case, I feel like in some ways they stand on my way a little bit.They stood in your way? Yeah, they played some games well. They wanted to get the most advantage possible, you know, which is, that's, you know, smart. If you are their coach, their manager, that's what I would do too, but.It wasn't their coach that was organizing the fight.So you think it's the organization itself that they set everything up in his favor?The organization, I mean, yes, his team was part of organization because he was Queensberry and mushroom. Those emails was coming from there.So those are the people that told you to get there 3 hours earlier than you need to be?Yeah.Yeah.Those are the people that were sending the schedule, the five week schedule. And every day we send everything, like pickup time, the program and schedule.Have you had a chance to go back and watch the Anthony Joshua fight?Yeah.What?I mean, I didn't. Yes, I watched it. What was your occasion?Um, what, what do you remember about the fight? What was different watching it?Oh, even like, feeling it. It wasn't even before I went to watch it, I get in the ring was, wasn't loot. Washington, you know, wasn't feeling myself. And the first round when he knocked me down, like, I fell and I was like, did I slip like, what exactly? Knocked me down. Make me fall like this punch, because I felt the punch, but it wasn't the punch that would knock me down, you know? So that's when I really get confused. At that time, I'm like, damn. What? But this is the thing. From that moment, I get knocked down with a punch that wasn't that hard.Because you don't think it was that hard?No, he hit, he hit my hand before. Hits my face. And I felt it. I felt the punch, but I wasn't on the floor. The first one.Mm hmm.And then I. I get count, then stood up. We finished the round. I went on my corner, but by the time I went on my corner, I never came back from that. I kept going. And I remember being in my corner, and Dewey was like, uh, don't go on South Paul. He's waiting you on South Paul. Do this charm. Do this charm. That was it. That was, that's from there. I don't remember when I left the stool to get in the second round.Well, that was probably from the big punch in the second round, too, right?Yeah, but I'm talking about the first round.Right. But the memory afterwards is always going to be cloudy after a knockout, especially a bad knockout like that.Yeah, but I remember. I remember exactly what happened until we get to the store. I remember being there, like, start having blurry vision. Like, the guy was in front of me, my team was in front of me, speaking to me, and then the voice was getting distance.So you think there was something wrong?I don't know if it was the fatigue. I don't know what was it, but.Something wasn't right, so something wasn't right on. Forget about the punches he landed. Something else was wrong? Is that what you're saying?Yeah, something was wrong.Do you think it's something you ate? Do you think it was something, I don't know, that someone gave you?I have no proof. I don't know if maybe.Did you get tested after the fight?Maybe is the fact that I can I get there at that time.So just the fatigue and the anxiety, right?Yeah, but something wrong. I I wanted to get. First of all, like, when all those things happen, you are in the moment. You don't think, like, you don't get out of the fight and think about, like, God, get tested, you know?Right.You process thing and then see, to understand, to see how he was wrong. But by the time they say, I think I need, you have to do, like, within 12 hours to do, like, blood or urine twelve and 14 and 24 hours. That was it. So I didn't do that. I. I can't say it was be a boxer. The kid before I left, I wanted to be a boxer. That wasn't even a question. I always knew what I wanted.So when it finally went full circle and you became a boxer again, did it feel like, oh, this is how it was supposed to be?I was living my dream? There is no way that I don't think there's a way that things supposed to be. You get what you get, and then you meet, you be grateful, and then you make the best out of it.Yeah.You know, so I was living the dream, you know, I ended up having the fight, having to fight two best two best boxer in the world after having a great mma career. Not bad from a guy coming from where I came from. No, it's amazing, basically from having the path that I had, you know? And who knows? Some good thing might still happen.Oh, some good things I'm sure will still happen, but that your path is incredible. And I encourage anybody that hasn't heard it to go back and listen to the first podcast you and I did together where you explained it. I was stunned. I remember for the rest of the day, all I could think about was your story and how insane it is that what you had to go through to finally make it to Europe. Incredible story.You know, just as I was talking, I was saying earlier, because took him to the hospital. They did. During a lot of exam, they didn't do anything. They did the EEG, didn't do the scam, the scan, or the MRI, because I think according to them, their conclusion was that he has a swollen lung, you know, and that was what was pressing his chest and stopping him from breathing and create that thing. So after all those exam, they give him some medicine that he's going to be okay, nothing to worry about. Because at first they even thought about like, as they give like a ventilator. And then that afterward, after some result, they took it up out. And then, you know, it put me in confidence, even though, like, I don't know, sometime I think somewhere in my mind I have to think that, yes, but he didn't show any stress, respiratory, if he was something from his lung. But I'm like, bro, he does was professional doctor and this and then I trust that.Yeah.So I basically like, put my gut down and I remember being just getting in Dubai and that day I was thinking like, oh, life is mean wise. I'm not doing bad. Life is good. You know, I went to the gym, like, maybe I should go to club tonight. And I don't go to club. I don't go out. Like, man, come on, which kind of guy are you? I went to the gym, work to work out. I'm in the bike, cycling. Then I tried to call. I wanted to talk to him when I was on the phone on the bike. Then I called his mom. His mom didn't pick up the phone. And I'm like, ah, after I'm done, I gonna go take my shower, lay in the bed and call him. And 30 minutes after I was on the leg machine, my phone rang. It was my little brother. Say, bro, things are not going well here. I'm like, what? He said, kobe, pass out. He's not breathing. He's. We are at the hospital. They kicked me out from the room. Now I'm like, what happened? And then as we are talking, he's also trying to get information.So I lose him for like, three, four minutes. Then after, I call again, and then I'm talking to him while he's talking to the nurse, and the nurse was like, who are you? Are you his dad? He said, no. Then who are you? I'm his uncle. Where is that? His dad is not here. Where? He's gone. Just like that, he's gone. What do you mean he's gone? How come he's gone? This kid was 15 months. He was bigger than 51. He was crying. He was the most joyful, happy kids around. Hey, what do you mean he's gone? Gone where, bro? That was it. I thought I was dreaming. I thought they gonna say some. No, that's not true. Then I keep calling again, and. And everybody is confirmed. I call my mom. My mom is just on tear, like, bro, what the fuck is this? And that was it. Wow. And I never realized I have been in the situation that I have seen people losing their kids, mourning, maybe definitely older kids, but I'm like, man, this must be hot. Even though I can't feel it at that moment. I mean, I don't. You don't know, like, what could be your reaction?You don't know? I've been in the situation that I'm like, bro, I don't cry. I never cry. I mean, not like I never cry, but I don't. I don't just. It don't just happen. I don't know why. No. Maybe because you don't have a reason. When you feel like something really hurt inside you, like, you can prove it's hurting. That was it.And when did this happen?April 27.So this before the Joshua fight?No, after.After the Joshua fight?Yeah, April 27. Almost two months after that was it. And then all of the sudden, you realize how a kid that wasn't there two years ago have became a major part of your life. Or if it's not like your life, then you realize that all the things that you were worrying about didn't mean shit at all. Nothing mean. Like nothing. It was the only thing at time that really matter. Yeah, but it's not there anymore. But, you know, one thing is that, you know, my dad passed away. I was 15, and he. Will he get sick? Just stay at home for, like, months and couldn't even go to the hospital and get to the point that he couldn't even go to the bathroom on his own. Nothing. But I was 15. I was stuck at school. But, you know, I always tell myself, like, I was a kid, what could I have done? And then after couple years, I left school, and then I started thinking. I'm like, okay, I had an excuse when my dad passed away. I think I'm becoming an adult, and I still powerless. I still can't do anything if something like that happened.What happened if my mom get sick? Like, what happened if I have my own kids, like, some days and they need me or I will provide for them, like, or protect them. And those was one of the thought that I always have, like, pushing me, living, like, no, I need to do something. I need to take action. Then after years, you get to the point that you feel like you have it figured out. Like, okay, I can afford a health care for my family. I can take care. If somebody needs to go to the hospital or whatever it is, I can make it. I cannot do it. You know? Then all of the sudden, your own kids, which is the one that rely on you, only you. You couldn't even do anything for him. He did. Like, by the time he get to the hospital, he was gone. You couldn't fight for him. I'm like, bro, let me fight. Let me say I have tried. Let me say I did something. Let's make all this. What? What's the point if after all this I get to the point that I'm still this powerless in front of a real situation and that, that was, that's hurt.That's hurt a lot.I'm sorry to hear that, man. I can't imagine. I can't imagine. And it's also the pain of knowing there's nothing he could have done.Yeah.It's just a medical thing that he was born with.Yeah, he was born with. Because when it happens, everybody was confused. Nobody knows. So get home then. What should we do? Let's do an autopsy. That one was tough because you think that they say, you know, what, that they're gonna tear him, cut him, cut his head. Like, I mean, a kid that yesterday you were excited to talk to him. Now they are talking about, like, cut him this way, this way. Like, how come that is, like. But, you know, it's at least good to know what happened. Maybe that might save somebody in the future because he stood a mystery there. So say, let's do the autopsy. That's when they find all this out. Yeah. The last time I saw him was me leaving Cameroon, going to the elevator he was with my little brother, and he didn't want me to go because he became my body so much that when I'm around, he don't want me to leave him alone. I can take him whenever, wherever I go. He might not don't eat. He doesn't care as long as he's with me. That was it. He was my. My mate, like, 15 months. He's barely walking.But, you know, when I walked in, you know that I walked in. You don't have, they don't have to ask, like, who worked in. They know that is his dad. You know, he reaction, oh, then you started think about all those little things, all those little things that you guys have, just you and him. Then it's over. Then it's over. When he was, the day that I was living, he was crying, like, wanted me to go with him, but I kept going. I knew that I'm going to be back. I have no clue that that was it. I would say I should have go back one more time, spent one more day. I know how came one more time, man. That was it. And then he get back in the apartment and see all his toys, the stuff that he was playing. The thing that you take, you take from him the other day and put here is right there, but he's not there anymore and will never be there anymore. Yeah, kobe. Kobe was his name. I named him after kobe Bryant because I had a great memory of Kobe Bryant. The day that the USA was launching, was announcing the partnership with Buddy Ammon was in New York.I just arrived in the US at time. My English was so bad. I'm in New York. We have to meet to meet in this room, this event, to make the announcement. And I'm there a little early. Then Kobe came little early to meet me in the waiting room. Just go be a night there for, like, 30 minutes. I don't. My English is very bad. I'm embarrassed. I don't want to speak and then keep talking, asking questions. Talk about my story. Ask me where I came from and how do I get. I know, like, wow, this impressive. I'm like, this is Kobe, right? I don't want to bother him, but he's questioning me, really excited about it. Get me to talk. Then I feel bad. I'm like, oh, no, your English is really good. I understand what you're saying. And then how about is that, like, for 30 minutes until then, Dana White was the next guy that walked in the room, and he said, wow, do you know this guy story? Do you know his story. He did this, he did that. And I said, yes, I know. Like, wow, this crazy. Wow. It's crazy how we in America, we don't know what's going around the world.And Kobe was there talking like that. I'm like, this is Kobe Bryant, you know? So that was like, my moment with Kobe.Wow.So when he passed out, when he died, I, uh, you know, I was in LA when I heard about the news and he hit me really bad. And I decided, I can make Kobe and have a Kobe. So that's it then? The day that he passed away, just the day before, they were just making his little basketball court that I have for him, his playground for him, you know, because I was so await for him to start to be strong on his feet. So we can go work, we can do this, we can play soccer. I've been looking for soccer. Click, click for him. This, that. You know, you have all the project I have thought of, like, which school should he go? Like, think, oh, what should I do? You know, you never know. Maybe something happened to me. I should set up something to keep him safe, you know, you think like that, but no, it never crossed your mind that he would be the one living first from the moment that he was born, not like when he was born, when he started react and you really see like a living person, you really started planning out, like, how to protect him, how to build a security around him.You know, he, he wasn't just a kid. He was a project. He became a huge project. Everything that you think of that's good, that you want, oh, it's for Kobe. It's for him. All of the sudden, then he's gone. Wow. Yeah.You've been through a lot in your life, Francis.Yeah.You've been through a lot.A lot of people been through it. You didn't just know.Yeah.Then after that, you look, people that pin through that lost a kid, you respect them more. You give them some more respect. Like, my older brother lost two kids. And I feel so bad not really being there for him because I didn't understand. I know that he lost kids, but I didn't know what exactly that means. Now that I understand, I'm like, man, I should have been there more, you know, I feel bad that I didn't connect to his sovereign, to his pain. And you respect him more for being through that, to overcome that twice. Then you think, like, you started thinking like, no, in fact, I think I'm not the toughest one, though. I'm being put in test and realize that I'm not as tough as I think.Hmm.Yeah.There's nothing anybody could say. That's the craziest thing. There's no comfort that anybody can give you.Yeah. I mean, if they ask you what do you want or how, what can comfort you, you don't know. It's nothing.There's nothing can happen.It's really about, like, facing it daily, you know, take it one at a time.Do you have other children?Yeah, half another girl. But when it happened like that, you feel like. I don't know, even though you're in your mind, you think, like, you still have a lot going on, a lot of thing to be grateful about. But in your heart, you feel like you're broke. You have nothing. Nothing is worth it. I mean, I always love life and know that I have. Know that I have everything of society. But at least for once, I'm like, at least whenever I die, I gonna go see my kid. I'm gonna see him. I'm not afraid of it. Still want to leave. But at least whenever, you know, you get to you, you get to that point to think like that, so some way you're looking forward for whenever that happened.Wow.Yeah.I'm very sorry for your loss, man. I really am. I wish I could say something, but there's nothing to say.There's nothing to say. Joe, thank you.Thank you. And thank you for being here, man. Thank you for everything.You're.You're an inspirational man. You really are.Thank you. Appreciate you.Appreciate you being here, and the best of luck to you in everything in life.That's why, like, I really want to come back and do something, you know? Like, because I really think, like, maybe I should. I get to the point that I'm like, why do I fight for, you know, I don't even have to. I don't want. But, bro, that boy, for 15. For at least 15 months, I think he. He taught me something, you know? Like, he was active, full of life. And I think if there's one thing that he. He would have been doing, he would have been doing. He would have been doing something. Not staying there, not being a reason of giving up or whatever. And I think that that's the only way to honor him, his memory, keep him alive, get a purpose, make him a motivation. Yeah, I think so. We will see. We will see how it plays out.But, yeah. Again, thank you, Francis. Thank you for being here, man. I really appreciate you.Thank you.All right.Bye, buddy.

that was get in the 8th round.So why didn't the rematch materialize?I think it's a timing. I think it's a matter of the timing. Yeah.So you go from that fight to the Anthony Joshua fight.Yes.So tell me about the preparation and leading up to that fight.In fact, the preparation for the Anthony JOA fight. Then I started, you know, I, after having like four months of training camp for the Tyson Fury fight, I had this feeling, you know, and then I get little, I get a little confident. Now I know how it works. Like ten rounds and then was pretty good, you know, the Tyson Fury fight, I think I spar, I sparred like ten rounds for like two weeks. Yeah, like four, four sparring of ten rounds barely. But the ties, the Antonio Joshua fight six weeks before the fight, I was. No, I wasn't ten. No, the Tyson shoot. Yeah. Four weeks before the fight I was already doing like ten rounds. And I was feeling good, you know, even little lighter. But things plays out different. And I think unlike the Tyson Fury fight that nobody expected me to do anything here. They were expecting me to do something so things played out little different. And then we get into five week and then every time that we gonna do something in the five week, uh, weather is media, they're gonna pick me up and then I get there have to wait like 1 hour and half before he arrives.And that was like maybe the third day of the week that Dewey, Dewey Cooper, he said, oh, he started get really mad upset about like, yes, is how they get, they do to get fire tired. But at the time I didn't know what was going on, you know, so I'm like, no, come relax. Do we. It's okay. You know, I didn't know until we get to the five day Friday, receive an email pickup time. I mean, this one thing among others, pick up time, 1030 from the hotel. And then when they say 1030 by 1020 there is a cardinal in your door willing. We go to the supposedly five to fight time mean between midnight to 01:00 a.m. we get to. To the arena 1045. There is a producer coming to the locker room, say, oh, guys, we are running late on the broadcast now. We are. We're gonna go around 145 each. I'm like, okay, 145 is 1045. 3 hours. Okay. You know, so what do you do? Do you eat?Do you sleep? What do you do when, you know you have three more hours?You know, just stay there and then you have like a drug test guy around waiting for you to pee.How far before the fight do you eat?Usually maybe like four, 5 hours. Yeah, like maybe five to 6 hours. And then you get some snacks in between, you know. And then, yeah, it was one around 130 that he was. Anthony Joshua arrived. I saw on train, I'm like, so we supposed to fight at 145? He's arriving at 130. What does that mean? It's going to. So, so they're playing games until we. We fight at one, at 330. We leave at 330. I have been in Saudi for almost two months training to fight between midnight and one.Mmm.That was my bet, my training time by two, three.So they wanted to keep you anxious, drag it on psychologically, put it in your head. You don't know when you're gonna fight.Pretty much, yeah. But even at that time, I didn't know what was happening.Right.It was after, after everything that I'm like, what's going on? Because I get in the, I get to the point that I was so tired, I was in the locker room heating meat. Then sit down feeling asleep. Then I tell Eric, Eric Nixie, like, bro, something wrong? I'm asleep. I feel like I want to sleep. Like I'm sweating. But we just keep, we just keep doing. So that's fight. I mean, not to say Anthony Joshua couldn't win me, you know, I think if there's somebody that you can lose against him, he's the guy, you know, and he's one of the best of doing it, you know, but, and this is definitely not on him because he wasn't. The guy that was sending all those emails was organizing. So I'm not blaming about anything but the organization, bro. Nah, they did quite some stuff that wasn't fair, which on the Tyson fight was perfect. Everything was perfect because I wasn't a threat. I wasn't. Nobody cares about me. Everything was organized. We get there in the locker room, I think was 2 hours before the fight properly. Yeah.Hmm.So.Well, Anthony Joshua is a veteran. You know, he's been in the boxing game for a long time and he knows, knows all the different tricks. They also obviously very much prepared for your style. They saw you fight Tyson Fury, so they had tape on you as Tyson Fury did not have boxing tape. He didn't have any footage to study, but Anthony Joshua did. And it was very clear that he knew you had certain tendencies and there were certain things that you did with the Tyson Fury fight that he exploited in his fight, maybe.And then I think, again, I think he's capable to figure out everybody. I think he's capable to win everybody. But in this case, I feel like in some ways they stand on my way a little bit.They stood in your way? Yeah, they played some games well. They wanted to get the most advantage possible, you know, which is, that's, you know, smart. If you are their coach, their manager, that's what I would do too, but.It wasn't their coach that was organizing the fight.So you think it's the organization itself that they set everything up in his favor?The organization, I mean, yes, his team was part of organization because he was Queensberry and mushroom. Those emails was coming from there.So those are the people that told you to get there 3 hours earlier than you need to be?Yeah.Yeah.Those are the people that were sending the schedule, the five week schedule. And every day we send everything, like pickup time, the program and schedule.Have you had a chance to go back and watch the Anthony Joshua fight?Yeah.What?I mean, I didn't. Yes, I watched it. What was your occasion?Um, what, what do you remember about the fight? What was different watching it?Oh, even like, feeling it. It wasn't even before I went to watch it, I get in the ring was, wasn't loot. Washington, you know, wasn't feeling myself. And the first round when he knocked me down, like, I fell and I was like, did I slip like, what exactly? Knocked me down. Make me fall like this punch, because I felt the punch, but it wasn't the punch that would knock me down, you know? So that's when I really get confused. At that time, I'm like, damn. What? But this is the thing. From that moment, I get knocked down with a punch that wasn't that hard.Because you don't think it was that hard?No, he hit, he hit my hand before. Hits my face. And I felt it. I felt the punch, but I wasn't on the floor. The first one.Mm hmm.And then I. I get count, then stood up. We finished the round. I went on my corner, but by the time I went on my corner, I never came back from that. I kept going. And I remember being in my corner, and Dewey was like, uh, don't go on South Paul. He's waiting you on South Paul. Do this charm. Do this charm. That was it. That was, that's from there. I don't remember when I left the stool to get in the second round.Well, that was probably from the big punch in the second round, too, right?Yeah, but I'm talking about the first round.Right. But the memory afterwards is always going to be cloudy after a knockout, especially a bad knockout like that.Yeah, but I remember. I remember exactly what happened until we get to the store. I remember being there, like, start having blurry vision. Like, the guy was in front of me, my team was in front of me, speaking to me, and then the voice was getting distance.So you think there was something wrong?I don't know if it was the fatigue. I don't know what was it, but.Something wasn't right, so something wasn't right on. Forget about the punches he landed. Something else was wrong? Is that what you're saying?Yeah, something was wrong.Do you think it's something you ate? Do you think it was something, I don't know, that someone gave you?I have no proof. I don't know if maybe.Did you get tested after the fight?Maybe is the fact that I can I get there at that time.So just the fatigue and the anxiety, right?Yeah, but something wrong. I I wanted to get. First of all, like, when all those things happen, you are in the moment. You don't think, like, you don't get out of the fight and think about, like, God, get tested, you know?Right.You process thing and then see, to understand, to see how he was wrong. But by the time they say, I think I need, you have to do, like, within 12 hours to do, like, blood or urine twelve and 14 and 24 hours. That was it. So I didn't do that. I. I can't say it was be a boxer. The kid before I left, I wanted to be a boxer. That wasn't even a question. I always knew what I wanted.So when it finally went full circle and you became a boxer again, did it feel like, oh, this is how it was supposed to be?I was living my dream? There is no way that I don't think there's a way that things supposed to be. You get what you get, and then you meet, you be grateful, and then you make the best out of it.Yeah.You know, so I was living the dream, you know, I ended up having the fight, having to fight two best two best boxer in the world after having a great mma career. Not bad from a guy coming from where I came from. No, it's amazing, basically from having the path that I had, you know? And who knows? Some good thing might still happen.Oh, some good things I'm sure will still happen, but that your path is incredible. And I encourage anybody that hasn't heard it to go back and listen to the first podcast you and I did together where you explained it. I was stunned. I remember for the rest of the day, all I could think about was your story and how insane it is that what you had to go through to finally make it to Europe. Incredible story.You know, just as I was talking, I was saying earlier, because took him to the hospital. They did. During a lot of exam, they didn't do anything. They did the EEG, didn't do the scam, the scan, or the MRI, because I think according to them, their conclusion was that he has a swollen lung, you know, and that was what was pressing his chest and stopping him from breathing and create that thing. So after all those exam, they give him some medicine that he's going to be okay, nothing to worry about. Because at first they even thought about like, as they give like a ventilator. And then that afterward, after some result, they took it up out. And then, you know, it put me in confidence, even though, like, I don't know, sometime I think somewhere in my mind I have to think that, yes, but he didn't show any stress, respiratory, if he was something from his lung. But I'm like, bro, he does was professional doctor and this and then I trust that.Yeah.So I basically like, put my gut down and I remember being just getting in Dubai and that day I was thinking like, oh, life is mean wise. I'm not doing bad. Life is good. You know, I went to the gym, like, maybe I should go to club tonight. And I don't go to club. I don't go out. Like, man, come on, which kind of guy are you? I went to the gym, work to work out. I'm in the bike, cycling. Then I tried to call. I wanted to talk to him when I was on the phone on the bike. Then I called his mom. His mom didn't pick up the phone. And I'm like, ah, after I'm done, I gonna go take my shower, lay in the bed and call him. And 30 minutes after I was on the leg machine, my phone rang. It was my little brother. Say, bro, things are not going well here. I'm like, what? He said, kobe, pass out. He's not breathing. He's. We are at the hospital. They kicked me out from the room. Now I'm like, what happened? And then as we are talking, he's also trying to get information.So I lose him for like, three, four minutes. Then after, I call again, and then I'm talking to him while he's talking to the nurse, and the nurse was like, who are you? Are you his dad? He said, no. Then who are you? I'm his uncle. Where is that? His dad is not here. Where? He's gone. Just like that, he's gone. What do you mean he's gone? How come he's gone? This kid was 15 months. He was bigger than 51. He was crying. He was the most joyful, happy kids around. Hey, what do you mean he's gone? Gone where, bro? That was it. I thought I was dreaming. I thought they gonna say some. No, that's not true. Then I keep calling again, and. And everybody is confirmed. I call my mom. My mom is just on tear, like, bro, what the fuck is this? And that was it. Wow. And I never realized I have been in the situation that I have seen people losing their kids, mourning, maybe definitely older kids, but I'm like, man, this must be hot. Even though I can't feel it at that moment. I mean, I don't. You don't know, like, what could be your reaction?You don't know? I've been in the situation that I'm like, bro, I don't cry. I never cry. I mean, not like I never cry, but I don't. I don't just. It don't just happen. I don't know why. No. Maybe because you don't have a reason. When you feel like something really hurt inside you, like, you can prove it's hurting. That was it.And when did this happen?April 27.So this before the Joshua fight?No, after.After the Joshua fight?Yeah, April 27. Almost two months after that was it. And then all of the sudden, you realize how a kid that wasn't there two years ago have became a major part of your life. Or if it's not like your life, then you realize that all the things that you were worrying about didn't mean shit at all. Nothing mean. Like nothing. It was the only thing at time that really matter. Yeah, but it's not there anymore. But, you know, one thing is that, you know, my dad passed away. I was 15, and he. Will he get sick? Just stay at home for, like, months and couldn't even go to the hospital and get to the point that he couldn't even go to the bathroom on his own. Nothing. But I was 15. I was stuck at school. But, you know, I always tell myself, like, I was a kid, what could I have done? And then after couple years, I left school, and then I started thinking. I'm like, okay, I had an excuse when my dad passed away. I think I'm becoming an adult, and I still powerless. I still can't do anything if something like that happened.What happened if my mom get sick? Like, what happened if I have my own kids, like, some days and they need me or I will provide for them, like, or protect them. And those was one of the thought that I always have, like, pushing me, living, like, no, I need to do something. I need to take action. Then after years, you get to the point that you feel like you have it figured out. Like, okay, I can afford a health care for my family. I can take care. If somebody needs to go to the hospital or whatever it is, I can make it. I cannot do it. You know? Then all of the sudden, your own kids, which is the one that rely on you, only you. You couldn't even do anything for him. He did. Like, by the time he get to the hospital, he was gone. You couldn't fight for him. I'm like, bro, let me fight. Let me say I have tried. Let me say I did something. Let's make all this. What? What's the point if after all this I get to the point that I'm still this powerless in front of a real situation and that, that was, that's hurt.That's hurt a lot.I'm sorry to hear that, man. I can't imagine. I can't imagine. And it's also the pain of knowing there's nothing he could have done.Yeah.It's just a medical thing that he was born with.Yeah, he was born with. Because when it happens, everybody was confused. Nobody knows. So get home then. What should we do? Let's do an autopsy. That one was tough because you think that they say, you know, what, that they're gonna tear him, cut him, cut his head. Like, I mean, a kid that yesterday you were excited to talk to him. Now they are talking about, like, cut him this way, this way. Like, how come that is, like. But, you know, it's at least good to know what happened. Maybe that might save somebody in the future because he stood a mystery there. So say, let's do the autopsy. That's when they find all this out. Yeah. The last time I saw him was me leaving Cameroon, going to the elevator he was with my little brother, and he didn't want me to go because he became my body so much that when I'm around, he don't want me to leave him alone. I can take him whenever, wherever I go. He might not don't eat. He doesn't care as long as he's with me. That was it. He was my. My mate, like, 15 months. He's barely walking.But, you know, when I walked in, you know that I walked in. You don't have, they don't have to ask, like, who worked in. They know that is his dad. You know, he reaction, oh, then you started think about all those little things, all those little things that you guys have, just you and him. Then it's over. Then it's over. When he was, the day that I was living, he was crying, like, wanted me to go with him, but I kept going. I knew that I'm going to be back. I have no clue that that was it. I would say I should have go back one more time, spent one more day. I know how came one more time, man. That was it. And then he get back in the apartment and see all his toys, the stuff that he was playing. The thing that you take, you take from him the other day and put here is right there, but he's not there anymore and will never be there anymore. Yeah, kobe. Kobe was his name. I named him after kobe Bryant because I had a great memory of Kobe Bryant. The day that the USA was launching, was announcing the partnership with Buddy Ammon was in New York.I just arrived in the US at time. My English was so bad. I'm in New York. We have to meet to meet in this room, this event, to make the announcement. And I'm there a little early. Then Kobe came little early to meet me in the waiting room. Just go be a night there for, like, 30 minutes. I don't. My English is very bad. I'm embarrassed. I don't want to speak and then keep talking, asking questions. Talk about my story. Ask me where I came from and how do I get. I know, like, wow, this impressive. I'm like, this is Kobe, right? I don't want to bother him, but he's questioning me, really excited about it. Get me to talk. Then I feel bad. I'm like, oh, no, your English is really good. I understand what you're saying. And then how about is that, like, for 30 minutes until then, Dana White was the next guy that walked in the room, and he said, wow, do you know this guy story? Do you know his story. He did this, he did that. And I said, yes, I know. Like, wow, this crazy. Wow. It's crazy how we in America, we don't know what's going around the world.And Kobe was there talking like that. I'm like, this is Kobe Bryant, you know? So that was like, my moment with Kobe.Wow.So when he passed out, when he died, I, uh, you know, I was in LA when I heard about the news and he hit me really bad. And I decided, I can make Kobe and have a Kobe. So that's it then? The day that he passed away, just the day before, they were just making his little basketball court that I have for him, his playground for him, you know, because I was so await for him to start to be strong on his feet. So we can go work, we can do this, we can play soccer. I've been looking for soccer. Click, click for him. This, that. You know, you have all the project I have thought of, like, which school should he go? Like, think, oh, what should I do? You know, you never know. Maybe something happened to me. I should set up something to keep him safe, you know, you think like that, but no, it never crossed your mind that he would be the one living first from the moment that he was born, not like when he was born, when he started react and you really see like a living person, you really started planning out, like, how to protect him, how to build a security around him.You know, he, he wasn't just a kid. He was a project. He became a huge project. Everything that you think of that's good, that you want, oh, it's for Kobe. It's for him. All of the sudden, then he's gone. Wow. Yeah.You've been through a lot in your life, Francis.Yeah.You've been through a lot.A lot of people been through it. You didn't just know.Yeah.Then after that, you look, people that pin through that lost a kid, you respect them more. You give them some more respect. Like, my older brother lost two kids. And I feel so bad not really being there for him because I didn't understand. I know that he lost kids, but I didn't know what exactly that means. Now that I understand, I'm like, man, I should have been there more, you know, I feel bad that I didn't connect to his sovereign, to his pain. And you respect him more for being through that, to overcome that twice. Then you think, like, you started thinking like, no, in fact, I think I'm not the toughest one, though. I'm being put in test and realize that I'm not as tough as I think.Hmm.Yeah.There's nothing anybody could say. That's the craziest thing. There's no comfort that anybody can give you.Yeah. I mean, if they ask you what do you want or how, what can comfort you, you don't know. It's nothing.There's nothing can happen.It's really about, like, facing it daily, you know, take it one at a time.Do you have other children?Yeah, half another girl. But when it happened like that, you feel like. I don't know, even though you're in your mind, you think, like, you still have a lot going on, a lot of thing to be grateful about. But in your heart, you feel like you're broke. You have nothing. Nothing is worth it. I mean, I always love life and know that I have. Know that I have everything of society. But at least for once, I'm like, at least whenever I die, I gonna go see my kid. I'm gonna see him. I'm not afraid of it. Still want to leave. But at least whenever, you know, you get to you, you get to that point to think like that, so some way you're looking forward for whenever that happened.Wow.Yeah.I'm very sorry for your loss, man. I really am. I wish I could say something, but there's nothing to say.There's nothing to say. Joe, thank you.Thank you. And thank you for being here, man. Thank you for everything.You're.You're an inspirational man. You really are.Thank you. Appreciate you.Appreciate you being here, and the best of luck to you in everything in life.That's why, like, I really want to come back and do something, you know? Like, because I really think, like, maybe I should. I get to the point that I'm like, why do I fight for, you know, I don't even have to. I don't want. But, bro, that boy, for 15. For at least 15 months, I think he. He taught me something, you know? Like, he was active, full of life. And I think if there's one thing that he. He would have been doing, he would have been doing. He would have been doing something. Not staying there, not being a reason of giving up or whatever. And I think that that's the only way to honor him, his memory, keep him alive, get a purpose, make him a motivation. Yeah, I think so. We will see. We will see how it plays out.But, yeah. Again, thank you, Francis. Thank you for being here, man. I really appreciate you.Thank you.All right.Bye, buddy.

get in the 8th round.

So why didn't the rematch materialize?

I think it's a timing. I think it's a matter of the timing. Yeah.

So you go from that fight to the Anthony Joshua fight.

Yes.

So tell me about the preparation and leading up to that fight.

In fact, the preparation for the Anthony JOA fight. Then I started, you know, I, after having like four months of training camp for the Tyson Fury fight, I had this feeling, you know, and then I get little, I get a little confident. Now I know how it works. Like ten rounds and then was pretty good, you know, the Tyson Fury fight, I think I spar, I sparred like ten rounds for like two weeks. Yeah, like four, four sparring of ten rounds barely. But the ties, the Antonio Joshua fight six weeks before the fight, I was. No, I wasn't ten. No, the Tyson shoot. Yeah. Four weeks before the fight I was already doing like ten rounds. And I was feeling good, you know, even little lighter. But things plays out different. And I think unlike the Tyson Fury fight that nobody expected me to do anything here. They were expecting me to do something so things played out little different. And then we get into five week and then every time that we gonna do something in the five week, uh, weather is media, they're gonna pick me up and then I get there have to wait like 1 hour and half before he arrives.

And that was like maybe the third day of the week that Dewey, Dewey Cooper, he said, oh, he started get really mad upset about like, yes, is how they get, they do to get fire tired. But at the time I didn't know what was going on, you know, so I'm like, no, come relax. Do we. It's okay. You know, I didn't know until we get to the five day Friday, receive an email pickup time. I mean, this one thing among others, pick up time, 1030 from the hotel. And then when they say 1030 by 1020 there is a cardinal in your door willing. We go to the supposedly five to fight time mean between midnight to 01:00 a.m. we get to. To the arena 1045. There is a producer coming to the locker room, say, oh, guys, we are running late on the broadcast now. We are. We're gonna go around 145 each. I'm like, okay, 145 is 1045. 3 hours. Okay. You know, so what do you do? Do you eat?

Do you sleep? What do you do when, you know you have three more hours?

You know, just stay there and then you have like a drug test guy around waiting for you to pee.

How far before the fight do you eat?

Usually maybe like four, 5 hours. Yeah, like maybe five to 6 hours. And then you get some snacks in between, you know. And then, yeah, it was one around 130 that he was. Anthony Joshua arrived. I saw on train, I'm like, so we supposed to fight at 145? He's arriving at 130. What does that mean? It's going to. So, so they're playing games until we. We fight at one, at 330. We leave at 330. I have been in Saudi for almost two months training to fight between midnight and one.

Mmm.

That was my bet, my training time by two, three.

So they wanted to keep you anxious, drag it on psychologically, put it in your head. You don't know when you're gonna fight.

Pretty much, yeah. But even at that time, I didn't know what was happening.

Right.

It was after, after everything that I'm like, what's going on? Because I get in the, I get to the point that I was so tired, I was in the locker room heating meat. Then sit down feeling asleep. Then I tell Eric, Eric Nixie, like, bro, something wrong? I'm asleep. I feel like I want to sleep. Like I'm sweating. But we just keep, we just keep doing. So that's fight. I mean, not to say Anthony Joshua couldn't win me, you know, I think if there's somebody that you can lose against him, he's the guy, you know, and he's one of the best of doing it, you know, but, and this is definitely not on him because he wasn't. The guy that was sending all those emails was organizing. So I'm not blaming about anything but the organization, bro. Nah, they did quite some stuff that wasn't fair, which on the Tyson fight was perfect. Everything was perfect because I wasn't a threat. I wasn't. Nobody cares about me. Everything was organized. We get there in the locker room, I think was 2 hours before the fight properly. Yeah.

Hmm.

So.

Well, Anthony Joshua is a veteran. You know, he's been in the boxing game for a long time and he knows, knows all the different tricks. They also obviously very much prepared for your style. They saw you fight Tyson Fury, so they had tape on you as Tyson Fury did not have boxing tape. He didn't have any footage to study, but Anthony Joshua did. And it was very clear that he knew you had certain tendencies and there were certain things that you did with the Tyson Fury fight that he exploited in his fight, maybe.

And then I think, again, I think he's capable to figure out everybody. I think he's capable to win everybody. But in this case, I feel like in some ways they stand on my way a little bit.

They stood in your way? Yeah, they played some games well. They wanted to get the most advantage possible, you know, which is, that's, you know, smart. If you are their coach, their manager, that's what I would do too, but.

It wasn't their coach that was organizing the fight.

So you think it's the organization itself that they set everything up in his favor?

The organization, I mean, yes, his team was part of organization because he was Queensberry and mushroom. Those emails was coming from there.

So those are the people that told you to get there 3 hours earlier than you need to be?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Those are the people that were sending the schedule, the five week schedule. And every day we send everything, like pickup time, the program and schedule.

Have you had a chance to go back and watch the Anthony Joshua fight?

Yeah.

What?

I mean, I didn't. Yes, I watched it. What was your occasion?

Um, what, what do you remember about the fight? What was different watching it?

Oh, even like, feeling it. It wasn't even before I went to watch it, I get in the ring was, wasn't loot. Washington, you know, wasn't feeling myself. And the first round when he knocked me down, like, I fell and I was like, did I slip like, what exactly? Knocked me down. Make me fall like this punch, because I felt the punch, but it wasn't the punch that would knock me down, you know? So that's when I really get confused. At that time, I'm like, damn. What? But this is the thing. From that moment, I get knocked down with a punch that wasn't that hard.

Because you don't think it was that hard?

No, he hit, he hit my hand before. Hits my face. And I felt it. I felt the punch, but I wasn't on the floor. The first one.

Mm hmm.

And then I. I get count, then stood up. We finished the round. I went on my corner, but by the time I went on my corner, I never came back from that. I kept going. And I remember being in my corner, and Dewey was like, uh, don't go on South Paul. He's waiting you on South Paul. Do this charm. Do this charm. That was it. That was, that's from there. I don't remember when I left the stool to get in the second round.

Well, that was probably from the big punch in the second round, too, right?

Yeah, but I'm talking about the first round.

Right. But the memory afterwards is always going to be cloudy after a knockout, especially a bad knockout like that.

Yeah, but I remember. I remember exactly what happened until we get to the store. I remember being there, like, start having blurry vision. Like, the guy was in front of me, my team was in front of me, speaking to me, and then the voice was getting distance.

So you think there was something wrong?

I don't know if it was the fatigue. I don't know what was it, but.

Something wasn't right, so something wasn't right on. Forget about the punches he landed. Something else was wrong? Is that what you're saying?

Yeah, something was wrong.

Do you think it's something you ate? Do you think it was something, I don't know, that someone gave you?

I have no proof. I don't know if maybe.

Did you get tested after the fight?

Maybe is the fact that I can I get there at that time.

So just the fatigue and the anxiety, right?

Yeah, but something wrong. I I wanted to get. First of all, like, when all those things happen, you are in the moment. You don't think, like, you don't get out of the fight and think about, like, God, get tested, you know?

Right.

You process thing and then see, to understand, to see how he was wrong. But by the time they say, I think I need, you have to do, like, within 12 hours to do, like, blood or urine twelve and 14 and 24 hours. That was it. So I didn't do that. I. I can't say it was be a boxer. The kid before I left, I wanted to be a boxer. That wasn't even a question. I always knew what I wanted.So when it finally went full circle and you became a boxer again, did it feel like, oh, this is how it was supposed to be?I was living my dream? There is no way that I don't think there's a way that things supposed to be. You get what you get, and then you meet, you be grateful, and then you make the best out of it.Yeah.You know, so I was living the dream, you know, I ended up having the fight, having to fight two best two best boxer in the world after having a great mma career. Not bad from a guy coming from where I came from. No, it's amazing, basically from having the path that I had, you know? And who knows? Some good thing might still happen.Oh, some good things I'm sure will still happen, but that your path is incredible. And I encourage anybody that hasn't heard it to go back and listen to the first podcast you and I did together where you explained it. I was stunned. I remember for the rest of the day, all I could think about was your story and how insane it is that what you had to go through to finally make it to Europe. Incredible story.You know, just as I was talking, I was saying earlier, because took him to the hospital. They did. During a lot of exam, they didn't do anything. They did the EEG, didn't do the scam, the scan, or the MRI, because I think according to them, their conclusion was that he has a swollen lung, you know, and that was what was pressing his chest and stopping him from breathing and create that thing. So after all those exam, they give him some medicine that he's going to be okay, nothing to worry about. Because at first they even thought about like, as they give like a ventilator. And then that afterward, after some result, they took it up out. And then, you know, it put me in confidence, even though, like, I don't know, sometime I think somewhere in my mind I have to think that, yes, but he didn't show any stress, respiratory, if he was something from his lung. But I'm like, bro, he does was professional doctor and this and then I trust that.Yeah.So I basically like, put my gut down and I remember being just getting in Dubai and that day I was thinking like, oh, life is mean wise. I'm not doing bad. Life is good. You know, I went to the gym, like, maybe I should go to club tonight. And I don't go to club. I don't go out. Like, man, come on, which kind of guy are you? I went to the gym, work to work out. I'm in the bike, cycling. Then I tried to call. I wanted to talk to him when I was on the phone on the bike. Then I called his mom. His mom didn't pick up the phone. And I'm like, ah, after I'm done, I gonna go take my shower, lay in the bed and call him. And 30 minutes after I was on the leg machine, my phone rang. It was my little brother. Say, bro, things are not going well here. I'm like, what? He said, kobe, pass out. He's not breathing. He's. We are at the hospital. They kicked me out from the room. Now I'm like, what happened? And then as we are talking, he's also trying to get information.So I lose him for like, three, four minutes. Then after, I call again, and then I'm talking to him while he's talking to the nurse, and the nurse was like, who are you? Are you his dad? He said, no. Then who are you? I'm his uncle. Where is that? His dad is not here. Where? He's gone. Just like that, he's gone. What do you mean he's gone? How come he's gone? This kid was 15 months. He was bigger than 51. He was crying. He was the most joyful, happy kids around. Hey, what do you mean he's gone? Gone where, bro? That was it. I thought I was dreaming. I thought they gonna say some. No, that's not true. Then I keep calling again, and. And everybody is confirmed. I call my mom. My mom is just on tear, like, bro, what the fuck is this? And that was it. Wow. And I never realized I have been in the situation that I have seen people losing their kids, mourning, maybe definitely older kids, but I'm like, man, this must be hot. Even though I can't feel it at that moment. I mean, I don't. You don't know, like, what could be your reaction?You don't know? I've been in the situation that I'm like, bro, I don't cry. I never cry. I mean, not like I never cry, but I don't. I don't just. It don't just happen. I don't know why. No. Maybe because you don't have a reason. When you feel like something really hurt inside you, like, you can prove it's hurting. That was it.And when did this happen?April 27.So this before the Joshua fight?No, after.After the Joshua fight?Yeah, April 27. Almost two months after that was it. And then all of the sudden, you realize how a kid that wasn't there two years ago have became a major part of your life. Or if it's not like your life, then you realize that all the things that you were worrying about didn't mean shit at all. Nothing mean. Like nothing. It was the only thing at time that really matter. Yeah, but it's not there anymore. But, you know, one thing is that, you know, my dad passed away. I was 15, and he. Will he get sick? Just stay at home for, like, months and couldn't even go to the hospital and get to the point that he couldn't even go to the bathroom on his own. Nothing. But I was 15. I was stuck at school. But, you know, I always tell myself, like, I was a kid, what could I have done? And then after couple years, I left school, and then I started thinking. I'm like, okay, I had an excuse when my dad passed away. I think I'm becoming an adult, and I still powerless. I still can't do anything if something like that happened.What happened if my mom get sick? Like, what happened if I have my own kids, like, some days and they need me or I will provide for them, like, or protect them. And those was one of the thought that I always have, like, pushing me, living, like, no, I need to do something. I need to take action. Then after years, you get to the point that you feel like you have it figured out. Like, okay, I can afford a health care for my family. I can take care. If somebody needs to go to the hospital or whatever it is, I can make it. I cannot do it. You know? Then all of the sudden, your own kids, which is the one that rely on you, only you. You couldn't even do anything for him. He did. Like, by the time he get to the hospital, he was gone. You couldn't fight for him. I'm like, bro, let me fight. Let me say I have tried. Let me say I did something. Let's make all this. What? What's the point if after all this I get to the point that I'm still this powerless in front of a real situation and that, that was, that's hurt.That's hurt a lot.I'm sorry to hear that, man. I can't imagine. I can't imagine. And it's also the pain of knowing there's nothing he could have done.Yeah.It's just a medical thing that he was born with.Yeah, he was born with. Because when it happens, everybody was confused. Nobody knows. So get home then. What should we do? Let's do an autopsy. That one was tough because you think that they say, you know, what, that they're gonna tear him, cut him, cut his head. Like, I mean, a kid that yesterday you were excited to talk to him. Now they are talking about, like, cut him this way, this way. Like, how come that is, like. But, you know, it's at least good to know what happened. Maybe that might save somebody in the future because he stood a mystery there. So say, let's do the autopsy. That's when they find all this out. Yeah. The last time I saw him was me leaving Cameroon, going to the elevator he was with my little brother, and he didn't want me to go because he became my body so much that when I'm around, he don't want me to leave him alone. I can take him whenever, wherever I go. He might not don't eat. He doesn't care as long as he's with me. That was it. He was my. My mate, like, 15 months. He's barely walking.But, you know, when I walked in, you know that I walked in. You don't have, they don't have to ask, like, who worked in. They know that is his dad. You know, he reaction, oh, then you started think about all those little things, all those little things that you guys have, just you and him. Then it's over. Then it's over. When he was, the day that I was living, he was crying, like, wanted me to go with him, but I kept going. I knew that I'm going to be back. I have no clue that that was it. I would say I should have go back one more time, spent one more day. I know how came one more time, man. That was it. And then he get back in the apartment and see all his toys, the stuff that he was playing. The thing that you take, you take from him the other day and put here is right there, but he's not there anymore and will never be there anymore. Yeah, kobe. Kobe was his name. I named him after kobe Bryant because I had a great memory of Kobe Bryant. The day that the USA was launching, was announcing the partnership with Buddy Ammon was in New York.I just arrived in the US at time. My English was so bad. I'm in New York. We have to meet to meet in this room, this event, to make the announcement. And I'm there a little early. Then Kobe came little early to meet me in the waiting room. Just go be a night there for, like, 30 minutes. I don't. My English is very bad. I'm embarrassed. I don't want to speak and then keep talking, asking questions. Talk about my story. Ask me where I came from and how do I get. I know, like, wow, this impressive. I'm like, this is Kobe, right? I don't want to bother him, but he's questioning me, really excited about it. Get me to talk. Then I feel bad. I'm like, oh, no, your English is really good. I understand what you're saying. And then how about is that, like, for 30 minutes until then, Dana White was the next guy that walked in the room, and he said, wow, do you know this guy story? Do you know his story. He did this, he did that. And I said, yes, I know. Like, wow, this crazy. Wow. It's crazy how we in America, we don't know what's going around the world.And Kobe was there talking like that. I'm like, this is Kobe Bryant, you know? So that was like, my moment with Kobe.Wow.So when he passed out, when he died, I, uh, you know, I was in LA when I heard about the news and he hit me really bad. And I decided, I can make Kobe and have a Kobe. So that's it then? The day that he passed away, just the day before, they were just making his little basketball court that I have for him, his playground for him, you know, because I was so await for him to start to be strong on his feet. So we can go work, we can do this, we can play soccer. I've been looking for soccer. Click, click for him. This, that. You know, you have all the project I have thought of, like, which school should he go? Like, think, oh, what should I do? You know, you never know. Maybe something happened to me. I should set up something to keep him safe, you know, you think like that, but no, it never crossed your mind that he would be the one living first from the moment that he was born, not like when he was born, when he started react and you really see like a living person, you really started planning out, like, how to protect him, how to build a security around him.You know, he, he wasn't just a kid. He was a project. He became a huge project. Everything that you think of that's good, that you want, oh, it's for Kobe. It's for him. All of the sudden, then he's gone. Wow. Yeah.You've been through a lot in your life, Francis.Yeah.You've been through a lot.A lot of people been through it. You didn't just know.Yeah.Then after that, you look, people that pin through that lost a kid, you respect them more. You give them some more respect. Like, my older brother lost two kids. And I feel so bad not really being there for him because I didn't understand. I know that he lost kids, but I didn't know what exactly that means. Now that I understand, I'm like, man, I should have been there more, you know, I feel bad that I didn't connect to his sovereign, to his pain. And you respect him more for being through that, to overcome that twice. Then you think, like, you started thinking like, no, in fact, I think I'm not the toughest one, though. I'm being put in test and realize that I'm not as tough as I think.Hmm.Yeah.There's nothing anybody could say. That's the craziest thing. There's no comfort that anybody can give you.Yeah. I mean, if they ask you what do you want or how, what can comfort you, you don't know. It's nothing.There's nothing can happen.It's really about, like, facing it daily, you know, take it one at a time.Do you have other children?Yeah, half another girl. But when it happened like that, you feel like. I don't know, even though you're in your mind, you think, like, you still have a lot going on, a lot of thing to be grateful about. But in your heart, you feel like you're broke. You have nothing. Nothing is worth it. I mean, I always love life and know that I have. Know that I have everything of society. But at least for once, I'm like, at least whenever I die, I gonna go see my kid. I'm gonna see him. I'm not afraid of it. Still want to leave. But at least whenever, you know, you get to you, you get to that point to think like that, so some way you're looking forward for whenever that happened.Wow.Yeah.I'm very sorry for your loss, man. I really am. I wish I could say something, but there's nothing to say.There's nothing to say. Joe, thank you.Thank you. And thank you for being here, man. Thank you for everything.You're.You're an inspirational man. You really are.Thank you. Appreciate you.Appreciate you being here, and the best of luck to you in everything in life.That's why, like, I really want to come back and do something, you know? Like, because I really think, like, maybe I should. I get to the point that I'm like, why do I fight for, you know, I don't even have to. I don't want. But, bro, that boy, for 15. For at least 15 months, I think he. He taught me something, you know? Like, he was active, full of life. And I think if there's one thing that he. He would have been doing, he would have been doing. He would have been doing something. Not staying there, not being a reason of giving up or whatever. And I think that that's the only way to honor him, his memory, keep him alive, get a purpose, make him a motivation. Yeah, I think so. We will see. We will see how it plays out.But, yeah. Again, thank you, Francis. Thank you for being here, man. I really appreciate you.Thank you.All right.Bye, buddy.

be a boxer. The kid before I left, I wanted to be a boxer. That wasn't even a question. I always knew what I wanted.

So when it finally went full circle and you became a boxer again, did it feel like, oh, this is how it was supposed to be?

I was living my dream? There is no way that I don't think there's a way that things supposed to be. You get what you get, and then you meet, you be grateful, and then you make the best out of it.

Yeah.

You know, so I was living the dream, you know, I ended up having the fight, having to fight two best two best boxer in the world after having a great mma career. Not bad from a guy coming from where I came from. No, it's amazing, basically from having the path that I had, you know? And who knows? Some good thing might still happen.

Oh, some good things I'm sure will still happen, but that your path is incredible. And I encourage anybody that hasn't heard it to go back and listen to the first podcast you and I did together where you explained it. I was stunned. I remember for the rest of the day, all I could think about was your story and how insane it is that what you had to go through to finally make it to Europe. Incredible story.

You know, just as I was talking, I was saying earlier, because took him to the hospital. They did. During a lot of exam, they didn't do anything. They did the EEG, didn't do the scam, the scan, or the MRI, because I think according to them, their conclusion was that he has a swollen lung, you know, and that was what was pressing his chest and stopping him from breathing and create that thing. So after all those exam, they give him some medicine that he's going to be okay, nothing to worry about. Because at first they even thought about like, as they give like a ventilator. And then that afterward, after some result, they took it up out. And then, you know, it put me in confidence, even though, like, I don't know, sometime I think somewhere in my mind I have to think that, yes, but he didn't show any stress, respiratory, if he was something from his lung. But I'm like, bro, he does was professional doctor and this and then I trust that.Yeah.So I basically like, put my gut down and I remember being just getting in Dubai and that day I was thinking like, oh, life is mean wise. I'm not doing bad. Life is good. You know, I went to the gym, like, maybe I should go to club tonight. And I don't go to club. I don't go out. Like, man, come on, which kind of guy are you? I went to the gym, work to work out. I'm in the bike, cycling. Then I tried to call. I wanted to talk to him when I was on the phone on the bike. Then I called his mom. His mom didn't pick up the phone. And I'm like, ah, after I'm done, I gonna go take my shower, lay in the bed and call him. And 30 minutes after I was on the leg machine, my phone rang. It was my little brother. Say, bro, things are not going well here. I'm like, what? He said, kobe, pass out. He's not breathing. He's. We are at the hospital. They kicked me out from the room. Now I'm like, what happened? And then as we are talking, he's also trying to get information.So I lose him for like, three, four minutes. Then after, I call again, and then I'm talking to him while he's talking to the nurse, and the nurse was like, who are you? Are you his dad? He said, no. Then who are you? I'm his uncle. Where is that? His dad is not here. Where? He's gone. Just like that, he's gone. What do you mean he's gone? How come he's gone? This kid was 15 months. He was bigger than 51. He was crying. He was the most joyful, happy kids around. Hey, what do you mean he's gone? Gone where, bro? That was it. I thought I was dreaming. I thought they gonna say some. No, that's not true. Then I keep calling again, and. And everybody is confirmed. I call my mom. My mom is just on tear, like, bro, what the fuck is this? And that was it. Wow. And I never realized I have been in the situation that I have seen people losing their kids, mourning, maybe definitely older kids, but I'm like, man, this must be hot. Even though I can't feel it at that moment. I mean, I don't. You don't know, like, what could be your reaction?You don't know? I've been in the situation that I'm like, bro, I don't cry. I never cry. I mean, not like I never cry, but I don't. I don't just. It don't just happen. I don't know why. No. Maybe because you don't have a reason. When you feel like something really hurt inside you, like, you can prove it's hurting. That was it.And when did this happen?April 27.So this before the Joshua fight?No, after.After the Joshua fight?Yeah, April 27. Almost two months after that was it. And then all of the sudden, you realize how a kid that wasn't there two years ago have became a major part of your life. Or if it's not like your life, then you realize that all the things that you were worrying about didn't mean shit at all. Nothing mean. Like nothing. It was the only thing at time that really matter. Yeah, but it's not there anymore. But, you know, one thing is that, you know, my dad passed away. I was 15, and he. Will he get sick? Just stay at home for, like, months and couldn't even go to the hospital and get to the point that he couldn't even go to the bathroom on his own. Nothing. But I was 15. I was stuck at school. But, you know, I always tell myself, like, I was a kid, what could I have done? And then after couple years, I left school, and then I started thinking. I'm like, okay, I had an excuse when my dad passed away. I think I'm becoming an adult, and I still powerless. I still can't do anything if something like that happened.What happened if my mom get sick? Like, what happened if I have my own kids, like, some days and they need me or I will provide for them, like, or protect them. And those was one of the thought that I always have, like, pushing me, living, like, no, I need to do something. I need to take action. Then after years, you get to the point that you feel like you have it figured out. Like, okay, I can afford a health care for my family. I can take care. If somebody needs to go to the hospital or whatever it is, I can make it. I cannot do it. You know? Then all of the sudden, your own kids, which is the one that rely on you, only you. You couldn't even do anything for him. He did. Like, by the time he get to the hospital, he was gone. You couldn't fight for him. I'm like, bro, let me fight. Let me say I have tried. Let me say I did something. Let's make all this. What? What's the point if after all this I get to the point that I'm still this powerless in front of a real situation and that, that was, that's hurt.That's hurt a lot.I'm sorry to hear that, man. I can't imagine. I can't imagine. And it's also the pain of knowing there's nothing he could have done.Yeah.It's just a medical thing that he was born with.Yeah, he was born with. Because when it happens, everybody was confused. Nobody knows. So get home then. What should we do? Let's do an autopsy. That one was tough because you think that they say, you know, what, that they're gonna tear him, cut him, cut his head. Like, I mean, a kid that yesterday you were excited to talk to him. Now they are talking about, like, cut him this way, this way. Like, how come that is, like. But, you know, it's at least good to know what happened. Maybe that might save somebody in the future because he stood a mystery there. So say, let's do the autopsy. That's when they find all this out. Yeah. The last time I saw him was me leaving Cameroon, going to the elevator he was with my little brother, and he didn't want me to go because he became my body so much that when I'm around, he don't want me to leave him alone. I can take him whenever, wherever I go. He might not don't eat. He doesn't care as long as he's with me. That was it. He was my. My mate, like, 15 months. He's barely walking.But, you know, when I walked in, you know that I walked in. You don't have, they don't have to ask, like, who worked in. They know that is his dad. You know, he reaction, oh, then you started think about all those little things, all those little things that you guys have, just you and him. Then it's over. Then it's over. When he was, the day that I was living, he was crying, like, wanted me to go with him, but I kept going. I knew that I'm going to be back. I have no clue that that was it. I would say I should have go back one more time, spent one more day. I know how came one more time, man. That was it. And then he get back in the apartment and see all his toys, the stuff that he was playing. The thing that you take, you take from him the other day and put here is right there, but he's not there anymore and will never be there anymore. Yeah, kobe. Kobe was his name. I named him after kobe Bryant because I had a great memory of Kobe Bryant. The day that the USA was launching, was announcing the partnership with Buddy Ammon was in New York.I just arrived in the US at time. My English was so bad. I'm in New York. We have to meet to meet in this room, this event, to make the announcement. And I'm there a little early. Then Kobe came little early to meet me in the waiting room. Just go be a night there for, like, 30 minutes. I don't. My English is very bad. I'm embarrassed. I don't want to speak and then keep talking, asking questions. Talk about my story. Ask me where I came from and how do I get. I know, like, wow, this impressive. I'm like, this is Kobe, right? I don't want to bother him, but he's questioning me, really excited about it. Get me to talk. Then I feel bad. I'm like, oh, no, your English is really good. I understand what you're saying. And then how about is that, like, for 30 minutes until then, Dana White was the next guy that walked in the room, and he said, wow, do you know this guy story? Do you know his story. He did this, he did that. And I said, yes, I know. Like, wow, this crazy. Wow. It's crazy how we in America, we don't know what's going around the world.And Kobe was there talking like that. I'm like, this is Kobe Bryant, you know? So that was like, my moment with Kobe.Wow.So when he passed out, when he died, I, uh, you know, I was in LA when I heard about the news and he hit me really bad. And I decided, I can make Kobe and have a Kobe. So that's it then? The day that he passed away, just the day before, they were just making his little basketball court that I have for him, his playground for him, you know, because I was so await for him to start to be strong on his feet. So we can go work, we can do this, we can play soccer. I've been looking for soccer. Click, click for him. This, that. You know, you have all the project I have thought of, like, which school should he go? Like, think, oh, what should I do? You know, you never know. Maybe something happened to me. I should set up something to keep him safe, you know, you think like that, but no, it never crossed your mind that he would be the one living first from the moment that he was born, not like when he was born, when he started react and you really see like a living person, you really started planning out, like, how to protect him, how to build a security around him.You know, he, he wasn't just a kid. He was a project. He became a huge project. Everything that you think of that's good, that you want, oh, it's for Kobe. It's for him. All of the sudden, then he's gone. Wow. Yeah.You've been through a lot in your life, Francis.Yeah.You've been through a lot.A lot of people been through it. You didn't just know.Yeah.Then after that, you look, people that pin through that lost a kid, you respect them more. You give them some more respect. Like, my older brother lost two kids. And I feel so bad not really being there for him because I didn't understand. I know that he lost kids, but I didn't know what exactly that means. Now that I understand, I'm like, man, I should have been there more, you know, I feel bad that I didn't connect to his sovereign, to his pain. And you respect him more for being through that, to overcome that twice. Then you think, like, you started thinking like, no, in fact, I think I'm not the toughest one, though. I'm being put in test and realize that I'm not as tough as I think.Hmm.Yeah.There's nothing anybody could say. That's the craziest thing. There's no comfort that anybody can give you.Yeah. I mean, if they ask you what do you want or how, what can comfort you, you don't know. It's nothing.There's nothing can happen.It's really about, like, facing it daily, you know, take it one at a time.Do you have other children?Yeah, half another girl. But when it happened like that, you feel like. I don't know, even though you're in your mind, you think, like, you still have a lot going on, a lot of thing to be grateful about. But in your heart, you feel like you're broke. You have nothing. Nothing is worth it. I mean, I always love life and know that I have. Know that I have everything of society. But at least for once, I'm like, at least whenever I die, I gonna go see my kid. I'm gonna see him. I'm not afraid of it. Still want to leave. But at least whenever, you know, you get to you, you get to that point to think like that, so some way you're looking forward for whenever that happened.Wow.Yeah.I'm very sorry for your loss, man. I really am. I wish I could say something, but there's nothing to say.There's nothing to say. Joe, thank you.Thank you. And thank you for being here, man. Thank you for everything.You're.You're an inspirational man. You really are.Thank you. Appreciate you.Appreciate you being here, and the best of luck to you in everything in life.That's why, like, I really want to come back and do something, you know? Like, because I really think, like, maybe I should. I get to the point that I'm like, why do I fight for, you know, I don't even have to. I don't want. But, bro, that boy, for 15. For at least 15 months, I think he. He taught me something, you know? Like, he was active, full of life. And I think if there's one thing that he. He would have been doing, he would have been doing. He would have been doing something. Not staying there, not being a reason of giving up or whatever. And I think that that's the only way to honor him, his memory, keep him alive, get a purpose, make him a motivation. Yeah, I think so. We will see. We will see how it plays out.But, yeah. Again, thank you, Francis. Thank you for being here, man. I really appreciate you.Thank you.All right.Bye, buddy.

took him to the hospital. They did. During a lot of exam, they didn't do anything. They did the EEG, didn't do the scam, the scan, or the MRI, because I think according to them, their conclusion was that he has a swollen lung, you know, and that was what was pressing his chest and stopping him from breathing and create that thing. So after all those exam, they give him some medicine that he's going to be okay, nothing to worry about. Because at first they even thought about like, as they give like a ventilator. And then that afterward, after some result, they took it up out. And then, you know, it put me in confidence, even though, like, I don't know, sometime I think somewhere in my mind I have to think that, yes, but he didn't show any stress, respiratory, if he was something from his lung. But I'm like, bro, he does was professional doctor and this and then I trust that.

Yeah.

So I basically like, put my gut down and I remember being just getting in Dubai and that day I was thinking like, oh, life is mean wise. I'm not doing bad. Life is good. You know, I went to the gym, like, maybe I should go to club tonight. And I don't go to club. I don't go out. Like, man, come on, which kind of guy are you? I went to the gym, work to work out. I'm in the bike, cycling. Then I tried to call. I wanted to talk to him when I was on the phone on the bike. Then I called his mom. His mom didn't pick up the phone. And I'm like, ah, after I'm done, I gonna go take my shower, lay in the bed and call him. And 30 minutes after I was on the leg machine, my phone rang. It was my little brother. Say, bro, things are not going well here. I'm like, what? He said, kobe, pass out. He's not breathing. He's. We are at the hospital. They kicked me out from the room. Now I'm like, what happened? And then as we are talking, he's also trying to get information.

So I lose him for like, three, four minutes. Then after, I call again, and then I'm talking to him while he's talking to the nurse, and the nurse was like, who are you? Are you his dad? He said, no. Then who are you? I'm his uncle. Where is that? His dad is not here. Where? He's gone. Just like that, he's gone. What do you mean he's gone? How come he's gone? This kid was 15 months. He was bigger than 51. He was crying. He was the most joyful, happy kids around. Hey, what do you mean he's gone? Gone where, bro? That was it. I thought I was dreaming. I thought they gonna say some. No, that's not true. Then I keep calling again, and. And everybody is confirmed. I call my mom. My mom is just on tear, like, bro, what the fuck is this? And that was it. Wow. And I never realized I have been in the situation that I have seen people losing their kids, mourning, maybe definitely older kids, but I'm like, man, this must be hot. Even though I can't feel it at that moment. I mean, I don't. You don't know, like, what could be your reaction?

You don't know? I've been in the situation that I'm like, bro, I don't cry. I never cry. I mean, not like I never cry, but I don't. I don't just. It don't just happen. I don't know why. No. Maybe because you don't have a reason. When you feel like something really hurt inside you, like, you can prove it's hurting. That was it.

And when did this happen?

April 27.

So this before the Joshua fight?

No, after.

After the Joshua fight?

Yeah, April 27. Almost two months after that was it. And then all of the sudden, you realize how a kid that wasn't there two years ago have became a major part of your life. Or if it's not like your life, then you realize that all the things that you were worrying about didn't mean shit at all. Nothing mean. Like nothing. It was the only thing at time that really matter. Yeah, but it's not there anymore. But, you know, one thing is that, you know, my dad passed away. I was 15, and he. Will he get sick? Just stay at home for, like, months and couldn't even go to the hospital and get to the point that he couldn't even go to the bathroom on his own. Nothing. But I was 15. I was stuck at school. But, you know, I always tell myself, like, I was a kid, what could I have done? And then after couple years, I left school, and then I started thinking. I'm like, okay, I had an excuse when my dad passed away. I think I'm becoming an adult, and I still powerless. I still can't do anything if something like that happened.

What happened if my mom get sick? Like, what happened if I have my own kids, like, some days and they need me or I will provide for them, like, or protect them. And those was one of the thought that I always have, like, pushing me, living, like, no, I need to do something. I need to take action. Then after years, you get to the point that you feel like you have it figured out. Like, okay, I can afford a health care for my family. I can take care. If somebody needs to go to the hospital or whatever it is, I can make it. I cannot do it. You know? Then all of the sudden, your own kids, which is the one that rely on you, only you. You couldn't even do anything for him. He did. Like, by the time he get to the hospital, he was gone. You couldn't fight for him. I'm like, bro, let me fight. Let me say I have tried. Let me say I did something. Let's make all this. What? What's the point if after all this I get to the point that I'm still this powerless in front of a real situation and that, that was, that's hurt.

That's hurt a lot.

I'm sorry to hear that, man. I can't imagine. I can't imagine. And it's also the pain of knowing there's nothing he could have done.

Yeah.

It's just a medical thing that he was born with.

Yeah, he was born with. Because when it happens, everybody was confused. Nobody knows. So get home then. What should we do? Let's do an autopsy. That one was tough because you think that they say, you know, what, that they're gonna tear him, cut him, cut his head. Like, I mean, a kid that yesterday you were excited to talk to him. Now they are talking about, like, cut him this way, this way. Like, how come that is, like. But, you know, it's at least good to know what happened. Maybe that might save somebody in the future because he stood a mystery there. So say, let's do the autopsy. That's when they find all this out. Yeah. The last time I saw him was me leaving Cameroon, going to the elevator he was with my little brother, and he didn't want me to go because he became my body so much that when I'm around, he don't want me to leave him alone. I can take him whenever, wherever I go. He might not don't eat. He doesn't care as long as he's with me. That was it. He was my. My mate, like, 15 months. He's barely walking.

But, you know, when I walked in, you know that I walked in. You don't have, they don't have to ask, like, who worked in. They know that is his dad. You know, he reaction, oh, then you started think about all those little things, all those little things that you guys have, just you and him. Then it's over. Then it's over. When he was, the day that I was living, he was crying, like, wanted me to go with him, but I kept going. I knew that I'm going to be back. I have no clue that that was it. I would say I should have go back one more time, spent one more day. I know how came one more time, man. That was it. And then he get back in the apartment and see all his toys, the stuff that he was playing. The thing that you take, you take from him the other day and put here is right there, but he's not there anymore and will never be there anymore. Yeah, kobe. Kobe was his name. I named him after kobe Bryant because I had a great memory of Kobe Bryant. The day that the USA was launching, was announcing the partnership with Buddy Ammon was in New York.

I just arrived in the US at time. My English was so bad. I'm in New York. We have to meet to meet in this room, this event, to make the announcement. And I'm there a little early. Then Kobe came little early to meet me in the waiting room. Just go be a night there for, like, 30 minutes. I don't. My English is very bad. I'm embarrassed. I don't want to speak and then keep talking, asking questions. Talk about my story. Ask me where I came from and how do I get. I know, like, wow, this impressive. I'm like, this is Kobe, right? I don't want to bother him, but he's questioning me, really excited about it. Get me to talk. Then I feel bad. I'm like, oh, no, your English is really good. I understand what you're saying. And then how about is that, like, for 30 minutes until then, Dana White was the next guy that walked in the room, and he said, wow, do you know this guy story? Do you know his story. He did this, he did that. And I said, yes, I know. Like, wow, this crazy. Wow. It's crazy how we in America, we don't know what's going around the world.

And Kobe was there talking like that. I'm like, this is Kobe Bryant, you know? So that was like, my moment with Kobe.

Wow.

So when he passed out, when he died, I, uh, you know, I was in LA when I heard about the news and he hit me really bad. And I decided, I can make Kobe and have a Kobe. So that's it then? The day that he passed away, just the day before, they were just making his little basketball court that I have for him, his playground for him, you know, because I was so await for him to start to be strong on his feet. So we can go work, we can do this, we can play soccer. I've been looking for soccer. Click, click for him. This, that. You know, you have all the project I have thought of, like, which school should he go? Like, think, oh, what should I do? You know, you never know. Maybe something happened to me. I should set up something to keep him safe, you know, you think like that, but no, it never crossed your mind that he would be the one living first from the moment that he was born, not like when he was born, when he started react and you really see like a living person, you really started planning out, like, how to protect him, how to build a security around him.

You know, he, he wasn't just a kid. He was a project. He became a huge project. Everything that you think of that's good, that you want, oh, it's for Kobe. It's for him. All of the sudden, then he's gone. Wow. Yeah.

You've been through a lot in your life, Francis.

Yeah.

You've been through a lot.

A lot of people been through it. You didn't just know.

Yeah.

Then after that, you look, people that pin through that lost a kid, you respect them more. You give them some more respect. Like, my older brother lost two kids. And I feel so bad not really being there for him because I didn't understand. I know that he lost kids, but I didn't know what exactly that means. Now that I understand, I'm like, man, I should have been there more, you know, I feel bad that I didn't connect to his sovereign, to his pain. And you respect him more for being through that, to overcome that twice. Then you think, like, you started thinking like, no, in fact, I think I'm not the toughest one, though. I'm being put in test and realize that I'm not as tough as I think.

Hmm.

Yeah.

There's nothing anybody could say. That's the craziest thing. There's no comfort that anybody can give you.

Yeah. I mean, if they ask you what do you want or how, what can comfort you, you don't know. It's nothing.

There's nothing can happen.

It's really about, like, facing it daily, you know, take it one at a time.

Do you have other children?

Yeah, half another girl. But when it happened like that, you feel like. I don't know, even though you're in your mind, you think, like, you still have a lot going on, a lot of thing to be grateful about. But in your heart, you feel like you're broke. You have nothing. Nothing is worth it. I mean, I always love life and know that I have. Know that I have everything of society. But at least for once, I'm like, at least whenever I die, I gonna go see my kid. I'm gonna see him. I'm not afraid of it. Still want to leave. But at least whenever, you know, you get to you, you get to that point to think like that, so some way you're looking forward for whenever that happened.

Wow.

Yeah.

I'm very sorry for your loss, man. I really am. I wish I could say something, but there's nothing to say.

There's nothing to say. Joe, thank you.

Thank you. And thank you for being here, man. Thank you for everything.

You're.

You're an inspirational man. You really are.

Thank you. Appreciate you.

Appreciate you being here, and the best of luck to you in everything in life.

That's why, like, I really want to come back and do something, you know? Like, because I really think, like, maybe I should. I get to the point that I'm like, why do I fight for, you know, I don't even have to. I don't want. But, bro, that boy, for 15. For at least 15 months, I think he. He taught me something, you know? Like, he was active, full of life. And I think if there's one thing that he. He would have been doing, he would have been doing. He would have been doing something. Not staying there, not being a reason of giving up or whatever. And I think that that's the only way to honor him, his memory, keep him alive, get a purpose, make him a motivation. Yeah, I think so. We will see. We will see how it plays out.

But, yeah. Again, thank you, Francis. Thank you for being here, man. I really appreciate you.

Thank you.

All right.

Bye, buddy.